Dracula, Bram Stoker, his Northumbrian origins and inspirations

November 2025 Meeting Report

Dracula! A name familiar to most, having either read the 1897 novel or seen one of the many films of that name. But the author, Bram Stoker, is less familiar. At the November meeting, Neil Storey, author of ‘Bram Stoker: Author of Dracula: An Illustrated Biography,’ set about putting this to rights. 

Bram (an abbreviation of his given name, Abraham) was born in Dublin in 1847. A sickly child, unable to walk until age 7, he spent his early childhood honing a vivid, even lurid, imagination. Disease was rife in Ireland at that time and his first book, ‘Under the Sun’, a series of tales intended for children, tells of an invisible giant who went around spreading disease – a giant who, incidentally, is depicted with horrible fangs! 

From age 7 Bram became stronger and grew into a strapping, athletic young man. At Trinity College Dublin he was president of the History and Philosophical Societies. He began to write reviews of theatre productions for the Dublin Evening Standard and met the actor Henry Irving who was thankful that Bram’s excellent review of his Hamlet had helped him transfer to the London stage. Irving suggested they open their own theatre in London with Bram as manager. And in 1878 they took over the Lyceum Theatre. 

Stoker’s interest in the macabre continued. His hand written notes for Dracula still exist, revealing some of the books and ideas he drew upon for his story. The Ripper murders, for example, took place between 1888 and 1891. At around this same time the actor Richard Mansfield was appearing at the Lyceum in an adaptation of R L Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. George du Maurier’s novel ‘Trilby’ was another source of inspiration with its depiction of the powerful hypnotist Svengali. 

It was at the Beefsteak Club in London, a popular after theatre haunt for actors and writers, that Stoker first heard stories about vampires and Transylvania. In 1890 he visited Whitby and was inspired by its dramatic setting and Gothic landmarks, such as the ruins of Whitby Abbey and the 199 steps leading to it. Local tales of a wrecked Russian ship, the Dmitry, off the coast suggested to him the shipwreck of the Demeter in the novel. And so from these and other influences ‘Dracula’ took shape. 

Bram Stoker died of syphilis in 1912. His famous creation, however,  remains UNDEAD ……. 

Report by Kathryn McLachlan